Payne in portal (UPDATED: Payne commits to Texas A&M)

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OK - let's say the coach is the problem.

so MN just needs to find the right coach. A coach who will willingly agree to come to MN under the current circumstances.

being honest - MN is a program that has not been relevant in the conference, let alone nationally, for 25 years under multiple coaches. now, you add in the portal and NIL. and you add an 18-team conference. MN may be a member of the B1G - one of the more powerful conferences in college sports - but in basketball terms, MN is just not relevant.

So all Coyle has to do is find the right coach who can cope with all of that, and make the program relevant.

Oh - and MN has to be willing to pay a salary that will make that coach agree to come to MN, knowing all of the challenges it presents.

"Hire the right coach" sounds simple. It's not. It's easy to type on a message board. it's a lot harder to pull off in real life.
 

bga1 said:
Payne is 100% doing the right thing. His future as an NBA player is questionable but he is worth a ton in college. He has to find a way to make as much money now out of his basketball skills as possible. I hope that our local businesses realize that they can help and need to help if the U is going to have competitive basketball going forward. IMO it will take a million dollars + this year to field a decent team.

Rick Pitino's idea was the right one. Set up a salary cap per team and let the schools pay the money. Otherwise the sport is going to be ruined- if it hasn't been already. I am sickened by what has happened to college sports.
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I agree with this, but the teams that cheat will just cheat again, they won't stick to a salary cap. But hopefully it would mitigate this madness. Coaching in the NBA is a MUCH better job than the current college landscape. Sad.

Go Gophers!!
 


Dsigma42 said:
It’s about to be a dumpster fire with this team.
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you mean, still a dumpster fire. been that way for a couple of decades now. get all the way up to mediocre before controlled flight into ground
 

billytwoshoes said:
But how many can sustain long term success with the resources? South Carolina just lost their best player to the portal, Colorado lost 4 starters from a NCAA team to the portal, Iowa lost their arguably best player to the portal. Ace Baldwin is going to leave PSU, etc etc etc. The depressing fact is no matter what you do as a coach or program it feels like money trumps all for average Power 5/mid major teams. So our best hope is to scrap together free agents every year and if they succeed expect them all to transfer up. The coaches clearly thought they had some buy in from the local guys and they got burned. Its a cruel system right now
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I'm not saying it's not an issue, but at least SC and Colorado won while they could. That's step one. Retaining the talent is step 2. At some point the courts/NCAA will have to put some order to the madness of NIL but it might take a few years.

None of that changes the fact that Ben Johnson is not Power 5 head coaching material and never was.
 



More coaches in more sports going to be like Saban and say heck with this! Would really like to know the honest truths behind many of these kids entering the portal. Usually Grass isn't always greener on the other side. Ouch! Ben has some roster to rebuild with only 2 recruits going! Somehow it seems like more portals will be coming too??
 

short ornery norwegian said:
OK - let's say the coach is the problem.

so MN just needs to find the right coach. A coach who will willingly agree to come to MN under the current circumstances.

being honest - MN is a program that has not been relevant in the conference, let alone nationally, for 25 years under multiple coaches. now, you add in the portal and NIL. and you add an 18-team conference. MN may be a member of the B1G - one of the more powerful conferences in college sports - but in basketball terms, MN is just not relevant.

So all Coyle has to do is find the right coach who can cope with all of that, and make the program relevant.

Oh - and MN has to be willing to pay a salary that will make that coach agree to come to MN, knowing all of the challenges it presents.

"Hire the right coach" sounds simple. It's not. It's easy to type on a message board. it's a lot harder to pull off in real life.
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This is all likely true but identifying we have the wrong coach shouldn't be this hard either.

NIL is likely a contributing factor in the Payne departure. But JOJ and Carrington?

I have a hard time believing we can't do better than this or there wouldn't be others that would sign up for the job.
 




007gopherfan said:
More coaches in more sports going to be like Saban and say heck with this! Would really like to know the honest truths behind many of these kids entering the portal. Usually Grass isn't always greener on the other side. Ouch! Ben has some roster to rebuild with only 2 recruits going! Somehow it seems like more portals will be coming too??
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At this point it sure seems like portal recruiting is way easier than pouring 2+ years into getting HS kids to sign here and then have them leave after a couple years anyway. Maybe that's what is what will get schools like Minnesota to be able to compete? Just get as much portal talent as you can, I don't know how that would make us any worse off than we are now.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Reminds me of the Jerry Seinfeld line (with the exception of moving to another city).

"Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify, because the players are always changing; the team could move to another city. You're actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it."
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The way this whole thing is headed, the players names are going to be on the front of the jerseys
 


Ski-U-Ham said:
At this point it sure seems like portal recruiting is way easier than pouring 2+ years into getting HS kids to sign here and then have them leave after a couple years anyway. Maybe that's what is what will get schools like Minnesota to be able to compete? Just get as much portal talent as you can, I don't know how that would make us any worse off than we are now.
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Johnson's choice and preference to do things the old way--recruit young and keep and development--has seemed to me to be an error in judgment from the get go.
 



Was listening to the New Heights podcast yesterday (Jason and Travis Kelce host it and their guest was Saquon Barkley). Barkley was talking about being on campus at PSU and noticing how the players have changed. Similar take to what Saban said where it is all about money and if there is any adversity the players now just cut and run to somewhere else as opposed to working through it.

I'm sure Payne saw an opportunity to cash in and he is taking it. Good big men are hard to find and I am sure he will land a nice payday. I guess it is good for the players but it absolutely sucks for the fans and the game itself. Makes it really tough for a fan to give a crap about the sport when your team is basically flipping over every year and anytime a player does anything good you have to assume he is probably going to leave. The system as it is setup now is a complete joke and unsustainable. They are going to need to go to some sort of contract setup or something.

And to the aholes in this thread throwing this in the face of anyone who has shown any sort of support for Johnson or the program......good lord you are pathetic.

At this point you may as well blow it up and start over with a new coach but I don't know if that will fix things unless we somehow find some way to play this stupid pay for play game and go buy our way to success.

What a joke college basketball and football have become. They will figure out a way to reign it in eventually but this current landscape is a complete and total mess.
 

I should be a lot more disappointed with the news than I am. Losing Eiserman was a much bigger punch to the throat which I guess shows my lacking interest in the program.

Re-allocate the NIL funds to the hockey programs and volleyball where we can forge potential dynasties. I would include Wrestling but our current coach is even worse than CBJ.

I can't believe how little enthusiasm I have left for this program. Money ruins everything when you're not the one getting it. Today's life as a college sports fan, sadly.
 



Bad Gopher said:
Johnson's choice and preference to do things the old way--recruit young and keep and development--has seemed to me to be an error in judgment from the get go.
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Has he really done that? I mean you still have to recruit kids out of HS but he's brought in a lot of transfers.
 

golfing18now said:
This is all likely true but identifying we have the wrong coach shouldn't be this hard either.

NIL is likely a contributing factor in the Payne departure. But JOJ and Carrington?

I have a hard time believing we can't do better than this or there wouldn't be others that would sign up for the job.
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not arguing with that. but someone has to identify and hire that coach, and the U has to be willing to pay the salary that would be required.

I honestly think identifying the coach is the easy party. getting that coach to commit to MN - and getting the U to pay the higher salary - those are the hard parts.

not impossible - but difficult, to say the least.
 



golfing18now said:
This is all likely true but identifying we have the wrong coach shouldn't be this hard either.

NIL is likely a contributing factor in the Payne departure. But JOJ and Carrington?

I have a hard time believing we can't do better than this or there wouldn't be others that would sign up for the job.
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Payne left because he is not an NBA prospect and can make money now.
Christie might leave because he is an NBA prospect and can make money now.
Carrington won't get NIL, but got playing time.
JOJ won't get NIL, but left so he can get playing time.
Henley left a losing program where he was a starter...for an even worse program at a lower level.

I'm curious to see what Garcia/Christie/Hawkins do, but I really don't have a good feeling about the coaching staff right now.
 



bga1 said:
This isn't Ben's fault. My guess is Ben told him that he would do everything he could to help him get a competitive NIL offer here. It is smart of Payne to bargain. If I were Ben I'd be thinking about dropping a few hundred grand into an NIL fund earmarked for his own players. If he doesn't get some funds - he's going to be on the streets.
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Ben's days are numbered...a year from now he won't be coach the question now is how many days are in that number? Saying it isn't his fault is disingenuous...he got credit for bringing in Payne and now he is gone.

The only reason people really had to for sure want him back was to keep the team together...that ain't happening. He can't even keep local guys here. We are going to be in constant rebuild mode with this guy...
 

eker0016 said:
Payne left because he is not an NBA prospect and can make money now.
Christie might leave because he is an NBA prospect and can make money now.
Carrington won't get NIL, but got playing time.
JOJ won't get NIL, but left so he can get playing time.
Henley left a losing program where he was a starter...for an even worse program at a lower level.

I'm curious to see what Garcia/Christie/Hawkins do, but I really don't have a good feeling about the coaching staff right now.
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Where it is at right now:

If all you have to offer is playing time- you get average players.
If you are a proven winner, you can attract players if you get close on NIL.
If you are a proven winner, it is probably much easier to attract NIL money.
If you haven't been a proven winner- it's a major uphill climb unless some local wants to be the hero and bail the program out with a big shot of NIL money.
In this landscape- the NIL money is going to be bigger than having a great coach- but the great coach is going to get the NIL.

We are likely the loser in all scenarios and that's not Ben's fault.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I swear I read him being quoted as stating that. Maybe I dreamed it.
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Both Izzo and Painter did. And they have been basically operating that way.

I think Ben had said he ideally only wanted a few freshmen each year (it was either 2 or 3, but don’t specifically recall).
 

MNVCGUY said:
Was listening to the New Heights podcast yesterday (Jason and Travis Kelce host it and their guest was Saquon Barkley). Barkley was talking about being on campus at PSU and noticing how the players have changed. Similar take to what Saban said where it is all about money and if there is any adversity the players now just cut and run to somewhere else as opposed to working through it.

I'm sure Payne saw an opportunity to cash in and he is taking it. Good big men are hard to find and I am sure he will land a nice payday. I guess it is good for the players but it absolutely sucks for the fans and the game itself. Makes it really tough for a fan to give a crap about the sport when your team is basically flipping over every year and anytime a player does anything good you have to assume he is probably going to leave. The system as it is setup now is a complete joke and unsustainable. They are going to need to go to some sort of contract setup or something.

And to the aholes in this thread throwing this in the face of anyone who has shown any sort of support for Johnson or the program......good lord you are pathetic.

At this point you may as well blow it up and start over with a new coach but I don't know if that will fix things unless we somehow find some way to play this stupid pay for play game and go buy our way to success.

What a joke college basketball and football have become. They will figure out a way to reign it in eventually but this current landscape is a complete and total mess.
Click to expand...

It will fix things because we'll have a better coach.
 


bga1 said:
Where it is at right now:

If all you have to offer is playing time- you get average players.
If you are a proven winner, you can attract players if you get close on NIL.
If you are a proven winner, it is probably much easier to attract NIL money.
If you haven't been a proven winner- it's a major uphill climb unless some local wants to be the hero and bail the program out with a big shot of NIL money.
In this landscape- the NIL money is going to be bigger than having a great coach- but the great coach is going to get the NIL.

We are likely the loser in all scenarios and that's not Ben's fault.
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